Pneumatic piano attachment.



. No. 650,285. Patentad May 22, |900.

- E. ySLL-.Vonne PNEUIIATlC PIAN()l ATTACHMENT.

(Applicqiop ma@ .nm `21s, 1897. mund feb. u, 19m.)

(No listini.)

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wlTN'EssEsr INVENTOR wf/ W@ 6%@ ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT (DEFICE.

EDVIN S. VOTEY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

PN EU NIATIC PIANO ATTACHNINT.

SPEGIFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,285, dated May 22, 1900.

Application filed January 25,1897. Renewed February 5, 1900. Serial No. 4,065. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN S. VOTE Y, a citizen of the United States, residingat Detroit, in the county of Vayne, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new, useful, and valuable Improvement in Pneumatic Piano Attachments, of which the following is a full, clearLand exact description.

This invention relates to pneumatic piano attachments, and has for its objects, first, to provide a self-playing piano attachment of practical and economical construction which can be quickly applied to and removed from any piano; second, to provide means for inclosing the key-levers of this style of attachment when not in use; third, to provide means carried by the attachment for engaging the under side of the piano-keyboard to more rmly support the attachment in position, and, fourth, to provide for this and similar devices an improved automatic regulator for the pneumatic motor.

From above it may be noted that some of the special features of construction of this invention pertain solely to a separable selfplaying piano attachment and that other constructions are applicable to any form of pneumatic musical instrument.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 shows a transverse vertical section taken centrally through the entire instru ment and also showing the front ends in section of the keys of a piano to which my attachment is applied. Fig. 2 shows a front view of my exhaustchamber, part of the front board being removed, with two sets of my primary and intermediate pneumatics. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section through lines X X of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a similar view through lines Z Z of Fig. 2.

In the following detailed description I will employnumerals of reference to indicate upon the drawings the parts referred to, the same reference-numeral recurring in the two or more views indicating the saine part differently shown. l

The operating mechanism of my device is inclosed within a case 1, which has a general resemblance to a small organ-case, its only novel feature being a lid 2, hinged at points 3 to the back-board Il, and which lid serves the double purpose of closing the rear longitudinal opening in the case when the attachment is not in use and permitting of end pieces 5, secured to said lid, to directly or through the adjustable block 6 thereon engage the under side of the keyboard 7, and thus prevent the attachment from yjumping upward when it is attacking a number of the piano-keys 8 9 at any time,` as in playing a heavy chord.

In order to elevate or lower the attachment so that its key-strikers 1011 will exactly sit over the piano-keys 8 9, I provide rollers 12 under the four corners of the case 1 and set said rollers in an adjustable frame 13, which extends up into the case and has a vertical movement through the slot-s liin its back working over the screws 15, Asaid vertical movement being effected by screwing or unscrewing the bolt 16, Working through the fixed frame 17, as shown in Fig. 1.

At the lower rear end of my' attachment I provide two-part pedal-levers, the inner Dart 18 being pivoted-at point 19 and the other part consisting of the outwardly-extending piece 20, which has a lateral adjustment upon the inner part 18 by reason of the single connecting-screw 21, which secures the two parts rigidly together when in proper adjustment, so as to contact with the pedals 22 of the piano. The rear piece 20 of the two-part pedal-levers is given a vertical adjustment to accommodate it to the piano-pedal 22 by reason of the adjustable buttons 16 onthe vertical rod 19a, the lower end of which is threaded. It will be apparent that by screwing the buttons 185L up or down on the said rod 19a the inner piece of the pedal-levers will be likewise moved up or down and thel outwardly-extending end 2O of said levers, tilting on its pivot 19, given a corresponding movement up or down with relation to the piano foot-pedals 22.

Supposing the attachment to be in operative position-wi. e., so adjusted that its keystrikers 10 11 and its pedal-levers 2O properly sit over the piano-keys 8 9 and piano-pedals 2-then after placing the perforated notesheet 23 in proper position the performer commences by placing his feet upon the footpedals 24 and working them alternately in the usual way, and these through the connect- IOO ing-straps 25 26 working over the segmental through the ordinary fiap-valve (not shown) when said spring is but partly compressed, whereas by securing a rod 33 to the lower end 34 of the movable board 30, allowing said rod to slide through the lower end 35 of the long lever 36, pivoted at point 37, until the button 385L upon said rod 33 engages the lower end 35 of said lever 3G at about the time that the regular or primary spring 3l is one-halt' compressed, then from this point it takes considerable more power to further exhaust the bellows 28, because a further movement of its board 30 must be attended by a movement of the lever 3G, having a heavy spring 37CL secured to and tending to prevent an inward movement oit the upper end 38 of said lever 36. As a consequence, of course, the bellows 28a upon being exhausted against both its primary and secondary springs will in turn exhaust through the ordinary flap-valve much more rapidly than before, resulting in a more forcible operation of the pneu matics operated from said bellows and a heavier striking of the piano-keys and in this way permitting a variation of touch or strength of stroke independent of the action of the piano-pedals.

The secondary spring just described, together with several modifications, forms the subject-matter of a separate application filed simultaneouslyherewith and bearing Serial No. 622,239, the general adaptation and importance of this mechanism seeming to warrant my covering it in a distinct application and Without combining it with the various parts herein shown.

The pneumatic motor 39, connected by the pitman 40 to the driving-pulley 4l, is of any desirable form, its speed being controlled by the amount of air sucked therethrough. The duct 42 forms communication between said motor 39 and the exhaust-chamber 43, the intermediate chamber 44 serving as a convenient place to locate the slide-valve 45, which partly and variably covers the opening 46, according to the degree of movement of the bellows-board 30, to which latter it is connected by the pitman-rod 47, alias clearly shown in Fig. l. The purpose of thus automatically controlling the slide-valve 45 from the movement of the bellows-board 30 is to prevent an acceleration of the speed of the motor 39 when the degree of exhaust of the main bellows 28 increases, which increase would ordinarily exhaust a larger amount of air through the opening 46; but by the arrangement shown the area of this opening 46 is decreased as the power of the bellows increases, and thus avoids any change in the speed of the motor whenever the power of the bellows varies. The driving-pulley 41 is belted to the driven pulley 48, carrying the pinion-gear 49, meshing with the gear 5l of the take-up roller 52, the speed of which may be varied in any desired manner, it being the object of the mechanism just described to prevent an indiscriminate variation of speed of said take-u p roller or its motor, as it is frequently desired in rendering a piece of music to increase the power of the bellows or stroke without changing the speed of the motor or tempo.

It now remains only to describe the special construction and arrangement of pneumatics through which the piano-keys 8 and 0 are de'- pressed and which, perhaps, can be bet ter understood from an examination of Figs. 2, 3, and 4, which show large detailed views of the same and from which it will be seen that I employ a primary pneumatic 53, an intermediate pneumatic 54, and a power-pneumatic 55, all controlled 'li' rom and the first two named arranged within the single exhaust-chamber 5G. Any pneumatic required to strike apianokey a sufficiently-hard blow cannot' be propcrly controlled by a prim arypneu matic which is itself controlled by an opening in a note or music-sheet of one-sixteenth diameter, because the valve, such as 54, of a power-pneumatic like 55 is too heavy to be rapidly moved by such a small and delicate primary pneumatic 54. I overcome this difficulty by providing a secondary or intermediate pneumatic to be directly operated by the small primary pneumatic 53 and arranging the said intermediate pneumatic to control the heavy valve 54n of the power-pneumatic 55. To these ends I form six exhaust-chambers 5G, all disposed vertically with relation to each other,as shown in Fig. l, and each chamber, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, having arranged therein a series of primary pneumatics 53, having the leadertubes 57 connected to the ducts 58 of the tracker-board 59, the note-sheet 23 passing over said tracker-board 59 and acting as a valve for said primary pneumatic-t'. e., so long as an imperforate portion of the notesheet covers the inlet GO of the tracker-board leading to said pneumatic the latter remains inactive; but the moment a perforation in the note-sheet passes over its inlet the pneumatic succumbs to the sucking tendency of the exhaust-chamber 56, Within which it is located, and is instantly inflated. Arranged directly above said pneumatic 53 is a valvechamber 6l, which has a duct 02 running diagonally down to and communicating with the interior of the pneumatic 54. Connected to and operated by the primary pneumatic 53 is a puppet-valve 63, comprising the stem 64 and the disks 66, so that when said primary pneumatic 53 opens it raises said puppet-valve and allows external air to enter under the upper disk 6G into the valve-cham IIO IZO

ber Gl and from thence through the duct or channel 62 into the intermediate pneumatic 54, which, being located in the exhaustchamber 56, is immediately inflated, as was the primary pneumatic 53, and, like it, operates the puppet-valve 54, located directly above it. This puppet-valve 54 upon being lifted by the movement ot' the intermediate pneumatic 54 establishes acommunication through the channel 64, between the exhaustchamber 56 and the power-pneumatic 55, which instantly causes the latter to collapse or close with great force, owing to the area of the communicating openings. Projecting outwardly from the heel of the pneumatic 55 is an extension-rod 65,'havingits extreme end connected to the' downwardly projecting striker-rod 10 or ll, the lower felted end 67 of which is regulated to stand directly over its respective piano-key 9.

Having now given a detailed description of the various parts of my invention and the manner in which said parts operate and cooperate to perform their function, what l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent both in conjunction with and separable from an attachable and detachable device, is-

1. A separable pneumatic piano attachment comprising an inclosing case having an openingin its rear wall adapted to receive the keyboard of a piano, a lid or cover adapted to close said opening, and arranged when open to engage the under side of a piano-keyboard to support the attachment in operative position, vertically disposed strikerrods arranged in the casing and having their lower ends terminating near the upper part of the said opening, a bellows, exhausters, motor,

note-sheet holder, tracker-range, and pneumatics inclosed within the case, and footpedals for operating said mechanism, substantially as described.

2. In a separable piano attachment, a lid so hinged as to inclosc the key-striking levers when not in use and adapted to protrude under the keyboard of the piano when the attachment is shoved up to the latter, for the purpose described.

3. In a separable piano attachment of the class herein described, the combination with theinclosing case having an opening in its rear wall, a lid adapted to close said opening, and adjustable blocks or plates carried by said lid, and adapted to project under the keyboard of a piano when the attachment is Y in position for operation.

4. In a musical instrument, the combination with the main bellows, of the exhausters mounted upon the stationary board of said main bellows, an exhaust-chamber 43,'also mounted upon said stationary board and communicating with the said main bellows, an intermediate chamber 44, arranged upon and opening into said exhaust-chamber, a slidevalve operating to control said opening, a horizontal rod connection 47, between said slide-valve and the movable board of the main bellows, a pneumatic motor, and a port or passage leading from the intermediate chamber to said motor, substantially as described. l

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN S. VOTEY.

Witnesses:

OWEN WARD, G. H. DAVIS. 

